- Amsterdam is a key node in the new global ambient network. One of the artists behind this extended EP, Suzanne Kraft, moved there from LA, and he's been working with the city's Melody As Truth label since 2015. Kraft and the label's founder, Jonny Nash, collaborated on the recent Passive Aggressive LP, while Nash has worked with Gigi Masin in the group Gaussian Curve. The older Masin, who can thank the local label Music From Memory for his recent comeback, helped develop the blueprint for the city's blissed-out sound. Calm, unfussy assemblages of piano, guitar or translucent synth, these tracks are often as tranquil as a sunlit lagoon. But they're not aimless—under the surface, subtle pop currents steer things.
The latest Melody As Truth record, a collaboration between Kraft and D.K. (part of the similarly minded crew around Paris's Antinote label), makes clever use of these currents. "Xerox" offers the clearest direction. For starters, it has drums, along with graceful daubs of cymbal and a tangy snare. Its elegant melodies play off a deft bassline. The movements get subtler elsewhere, and you have to float in the music's amniotic warmth for a while before you notice yourself tugged this way or that. The direction on "Burn" comes from a smooth but firm bassline, which sets the scene for dramatic piano and guitar licks. On "Hammond Blow" it's sizzly synth pads, rippling through the track to a gentle rhythm.
The record's second half enters murkier waters. "No Man's Ground" opens with an edge of unease, though after two minutes it's bathed in a rosy glow. On "Bricks In White," a silken arp slips in almost unnoticed, softening a twilit landscape through which piano lines echo like ghosts. "Fade" betrays the Masin influence most of all, with a sentimental three-chord progression that starts in the bassline before migrating upwards. Like a lot of this Amsterdam music, it wouldn't disturb the middle-aged gents in the sauna of my local gym.
Tracklist01. Xerox
02. Burn
03. No Man's Ground
04. Hammond Blue
05. Bricks In White
06. Fade